Our boxes have arrived!

Can we just say upfront that moving countries really teaches you that you can live with very little of your own possessions and still be happy. I mean, I honestly have not even thought about the stainless steel bicycle tool that I put in the boxes to be shipped. It seems like an eternity since we had the boxes packed and removed, in reality it was three months ago. Wow, three months! Time does fly. We have been here for two and a half months and as the weekdays melt into Friday nights and the weekend, life has taken on a familiar tone again, of hard working weeks and awesome weekends. Sorted.

Until the boxes arrive. And then suddenly I was overcome by a Gollum like need to open boxes and go through all of our worldly possessions rushing from box to box going through the contents and caressing my motorbike kit like it was the gold that Smaug had guarded in middle earth all those years ago (thanks JRR Tolkien, and no need to thank me for the punt on the upcoming movie of the book The Hobbit). Opening just the first box was met with a lot of emotion, from both of us, and probably more so from me. Still the more sensible of the two of us (that would be Sammy) kept things fairly calm, although with Watershed playing in the background and me clutching my SA flag bandanna, you would swear I miss home. Well I do really, but we miss all our friends and family more so than the country. And my KTM, but Sammy gives me a funny look when I say that. So we decided one box was enough for tonight and carried the rest upstairs. We actually are just fine and loving our new adventure.

You will have noticed a drop off in posts and two of the most recent were sheepish statements of intent, but without the posts to follow. I think we are back on track now, but work is very busy and Sammy is very busy too so it takes time and logistics to find a moment to sit down and write a blog for everyone to enjoy. We love doing it and will keep them coming even if no one reads them, they are fun to do. The last couple of weeks have been very busy (yes I have said that but they were really, promise). We have had some adventures, look out for a blog this weekend about our epic walk for charity.

Everyday brings a new challenge for us. Mud Island is proving to be a bit of a misnomer at this stage. The UK have had one of their warmest and certainly driest Springs on record. I mean seriously chaps, Springbok and Kuruman have had more rain than we have. So I generally roll into the office like this - brief pause here in the story, to tell you that I have developed a pukka South England accent. It was that or continue to receive blank stares every time I open my mouth. When in Rome and all that. Of course I don't speak to Sammy like that, but I am not far off! - back to the rolling into the office story.

Me: Morning chaps you alright? (pukka South England accent)

Colleagues: Morning Big Rich (in chorus and beaming because they now understand me) (also they call me Big Rich cause there is another Richard and he is a cool cat, but um....vertically challenged)

Me: Someone once told me back in SA I was crazy to come here because it rains too much. I think he is wrong.

Colleagues: Oh no it is so dry and normally it rains....

Me:(interrupting) Oh please, I think you all moan too much

Colleagues: no really it normally rains all the time (to howls of protest and indignation)

Me: Coffee for any of you softies?

When it eventually does rain, I will no doubt get some smug looks. But in the meantime, the clouds and rain are making friends with Kuruman, who they missed the last 65 years, and so we remain as dry as a bone. 

I have some great colleagues and I am really lucky from that point of view, and of course working for the same business has been a blessing, because everything is pretty much the same, and has made it easier to adjust. I have been lucky to see a LOT of England so far, pity that I don't have time to stop and take pictures to share with you, but I am generally in London once or twice a week, and at least once a week travel to the Midlands, or near Liverpool/Manchester, or the east of the country, places like Essex have been an eye opener. I also get to do some really horrible things like play golf with customers and other hardships too terrible to mention (OK I can't help myself, off to Silverstone for a Porsche day and Mercedes Benz world to offer Schumi some tips on how to thrash an SLS).

And of course we have fun at home too. The highlight of the week so far was last night when Jo and Mark (family and our landlords) asked us to babysit baby Noah. What a pleasure, when I got in from Birmingham at 8.30pm he was fast asleep and Sammy had green Thai Prawn curry for me (and Green Thai bean curry for herself). If only all babysitting adventures were like this! We only have one set of keys and so decided that we would leave the door unlocked. Something that is safe to do here on the Isle of Wight. We had a normal evening with Noah sleeping through and went to bed. We were still reading in bed when we heard a loud crack. Not sure what it was I went to the window to see what had happened and found Mark and Jo standing outside with red wine grins looking up at the window. It turns out that Sammy had a bout of Africaness and when we went to bed, she automatically locked the door as she passed it by. That part of us may still take a while to overcome!

The Watershed CD is nearly at an end and I don't have any pictures to post with this entry, so sleep tight and look out for that blog on the walk, and a new addition to our family, her name is Angie and we are very pleased to have her. More on that later. Much love as always and don't forget that anytime you want to come and visit, the door is open. (well it may be closed cause it can get a bit cool here, but it is open in spirit!)